Dear MSO Retirees,
Happy July, Happy 4th! Was just thinking of the various venues the MSO had through the years- Washington Park, Summerfest, the Zoo. There are probably a few others, but memory is not helping at the moment. Oh, and I heard the Donna Diana Overture the other day. It has been ages since I’ve heard that one, but we must have played it oodles of times in our Pops and Wednesday Senior Citizen Concerts back in the ’70s with Ed Mumm conducting. I always enjoyed seeing the smiling faces in our audience those Wednesday programs, and some of the sleeping ones, too. But it was always good to hear comments from the seniors about their enjoyment of our performances as I walked to the car.
Enough with the stroll down memory lane. Birthdays first, then lots of news.
June has two birthdays, Anne DeVroome Kamerling celebrated on June 28th and Anne Sczygiel enjoys June 30th. July is now our busiest birthday month starting with Linda Siegel on July 6th, Les Kalkhof on the 7th, Judy Ormond on the 8th, and Barb Ballin on the 12th. Andrea Wagoner and Steve Basson (his 80th!!) both celebrate on July 15th, followed by Joe Conti on the 18th, and Jeani Foster on the 28th. Best wishes to all!
I received a wonderful update from Ryan Hagen, Judy Koch Hagen’s son. He writes-
Judy is having a wonderful time in an assisted living community in Rhinebeck, NY, playing pingpong, gardening, and reading. She especially loves visiting with and talking on the phone to her two grandsons, Kieran (5) and Jory (3). I live with my wife, Lily, in New Haven, CT, where she’s the director of student affairs for the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs at Yale. I’m finishing my PhD in Sociology at Columbia, and will start a postdoctoral research fellowship at Columbia in the fall.
Judy looks wonderful and I hope to visit her (along with Leland and Janice?- I’ll drive) in the fall.
Judy with Kieran.
Judy and Jory.
Ryan and Lily with the boys.
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Bonnie Peterson became a docent with the Tucson Museum of Art. Congratulations, Bonnie!
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Steve Colburn has been keeping busy. Steve writes-
Just had two nice weeks of concerts with the Chicago Master Singers (Brahms: Schiksalslied & Dvorak: Requiem) and DuPage Chorale (Americana: Thompson & Beach).
I suspect Steve and Marlee will be getting ready for the Washington Island Music Festival held from July 29th to August 9th. Samantha George, a previous MSO Associate Concertmaster is now the Artistic Director after Steve’s retirement and she will be joined by MSO musicians Nathan Hackett (viola), Rudi Heinrich (bassoon), Bill Helmers (clarinet), and the Tisdel Family- Scott (cello), Stefanie Jacob (piano), and daughter Emmy (violin). Emmy is now doing graduate work at McGill University. Attend if you can. The setting is beautiful and the music always interesting and well performed.
Marlee posted this wonderful four-generation photo with daughter Sara, grandkids, and Marlee’s Mom (?).
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Bill Barnewitz’s daughter, Kate, recently received her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Degree and Bill, Juliette, and Molly were there for the big day. Kate’s twin sister, Molly, is a staff writer for ComicsVerse. From Wikipedia, Comics Verse is “a comics journalism website covering comics news, reviews, analysis, and interviews with artists and writers. In addition to original written content, the site produces podcasts, videos, original webcomics, and covers news related to politics, gaming, movies, television, and music.”
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David Taggart and Teri spent time in Sonoma County, CA for a sibling reunion. Here is a photo of the clan. David is first on the left and Teri 4th.
David and Teri have also been spending time getting ready for the next Scenic Shore 150 Mile Bike Ride to raise money for the Leukemia & Symphony Society. The ride is on July 20-21 and if you would like to donate to this important work, please go to https://events.lls.org/pages/wi/2019scenicshore150/DTaggart
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Found a lovely photo of Glenda Greenhoe with her friend Sarah King.
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Sara and Dale Harmelink celebrated their 49th anniversary on May 30th. I think the snowbirds are back at their River Hills home.
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Liz Tuma and John spent some time in beautiful Banff and Jasper. Here they are with Liz’s sister and brother-in-law.
Liz also posted this fun photo taken in 1983 at Isla Muheres.
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The Bay View Art Gallery’s show of May 31 displayed a work by our artist, Judy Ormond.
Judy also had a visit from fellow piccolo player Mary Kay Fink. Judy was born in Cleveland and played with the MSO and Mary Kay was born in Milwaukee and plays with the Cleveland Orchestra.
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Anne Sczygiel spent some time in Santa Fe and visited with Danis Kelly. Danis later spent a fabulous month touring Europe with her sister and friends. Places visited included Portugal, Venice, Florence, Civitavecchia, Palermo, St. Tropez, Monaco, and
Marseille. There may be more. I couldn’t keep up! Looks like she had a pretty good time.
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Norma Zehner is still busy with birding. Here she is (fourth from left) at a Birdathon in Lake Park. They saw 44 species that day.
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Janet Millard enjoyed backpacking on the southern slope of the Colorado Plateau.
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Father’s Day postings included many MSO dads/granddads.
Roger Ruggeri
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Joe DiBello and his daughters, Gina and Giovanna. Gina is a first violin with Joe (bass) in the Chicago Symphony.
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Former MSO bassoonist Larry Datillio, Pam Foard, and his four “boys.”
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Russ Dagon and daughter Kelly.
Grandpa Russ with Kelly’s children, I think.
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Julia Goodwin posted this lovely photo of her dad, dear John Goodwin. John died in January of 2015.
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John Lounsbery is granddad to a new little one. Teddy Manuel Berger Lounsbery was born on May 25th to proud parents Kathryn Lounsbery and Helen Berger. The black ball of fluff is Twiggy.
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Steve Basson wrote-
Peetie and I continue to enjoy our “boys” and their families when we go East. As far as the twins are concerned, after a perilous pregnancy during which the many doctors were worried about the relative size, no pun intended, of the 2 girls in embryo, I can now report that at 20 months they are 24 and 23 pounds respectively and doing great. They eat like Bassons but are as sweet and friendly as Peetie ….here at home I am looking forward to Jim Norden’s concert May 13 which includes Liz Tuma and Bill Helmers; and if anyone can lend me a scythe I will try to get my lawn cut ……..love to all.
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Found this wonderful Conti family photo from the early 50’s.
Joe is the little fellow in the middle being hugged by his Grandmother (with glasses). Joe’s Dad is right behind him and his Mom is to the right of his Dad.
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Dottie Diggs is back from another amazing Giverny visit and is most happy to be home with her new kitty, Pixie. You can tell from the chair that Dot has had a number of cats.
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Received a nice note from Linda Unkefer.
Today I am catching up with Sara and Dale at the Thiensville Village Farmers Market. It is held in the park on the river and is quite lovely! On Sunday, Susan Steele and I are going to see Francesco conduct the MSO in another Carmina! I guess I am getting used to my circumstances!
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Roger sent word that John Burgess, MSO Principal Flute from 1964 to 1969, died on May 10th. John had an amazing career and his obituary can be found at https://buffalonews.com/2019/05/27/john-burgess-94-principal-flutist-with-buffalo-philharmonic-for-25-years/
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WUWM recently had a spot on the Grand Theater makeover. You can read/hear it at https://www.wuwm.com/post/one-milwaukees-last-movie-palaces-getting-new-life#stream/0
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Sascha Mandl, MSO Associate Concertmaster Jeanyi Kim’s husband and a fine violinist himself, posted a video of Erick Friedman playing an excerpt from the Bartok Violin Concerto with a very young Zdenek Macal conducting. If interested, see it at https://www.facebook.com/saschamandl/videos/10109423192643287/
Curiosity got the better of me and I looked at Macal’s Wikipedia site. It writes that
In 2006, Mácal made a brief appearance in the Japanese drama series Nodame Cantabile, based on the manga by Tomoko Ninomiya, during scenes shot in Prague. He played the main character’s childhood mentor, conductor Sebastiano Vieira, a role he recently returned to for the two special episodes filmed in 2007 and broadcast on 4 and 5 January 2008.
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That is it for now. Enjoy the fireworks and have a wonderful July!
Andrea
OLOMA65 